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BBB Accreditation For Moving Companies?

Is The Better Business Bureau Still Relevant?

With so many modern-day review platforms like Yelp, Google, Facebook and moving reviews to monitor to keep your reputation polished, is BBB accreditation for moving companies still relevant?

When I started my first moving company in 2000, if a customer had a complaint they filed it with the Better Business Bureau — the BBB. When we received a complaint it was a big deal and something we worked to resolve ASAP. Nowadays, I hear moving company owners say: “the BBB is old school, no one goes there to look at moving companies anymore”. I disagree.

Although it might not be the only game in town anymore when it comes to customers filing a complaint, the BBB is still very relevant for moving companies and something you need to pay attention to.

Is BBB accreditation for moving companies important?

In this week’s episode, I share with you five important factors to consider when dealing with the Better Business Bureau at your moving company.

Respond to complaints on time – It kills me to see moving companies that have a poor rating only because they haven’t responded to 1 or 2 complaints they received. If you get a complaint, address it right away and respond to the BBB before the deadline they give you. You can get an F, just for not responding.

Contact BBB – If you don’t have an A or A+ rating currently, then contact the BBB and let them know you would like to improve your rating. Ask them what steps you can take to get a better grade. Your rating may not change overnight but it’s worth putting in the time to make it better.

Become accredited – Yes, they want money to make your moving company accredited — but so what. Having that accreditation helps to build trust with your customers and your referral network. Will you still book moves without it? Of course. But think about how many more you would book with it. I believe BBB accreditation for moving companies is important to help you build trust and book more moves.

Add logo to all marketing – Once you become accredited, make sure you let everyone know. Place the logo in a prominent position on all your marketing. For example, at the top of your website and on the side of your truck.

Buy sponsored listing – Let’s say you’re accredited with an A rating — why not spend some of your marketing budget with the BBB to get some calls and leads? Remember, your marketing is an investment, you put money in to get more money out. Will the listing work for you in your market? I don’t know. My rule with marketing is test it, track it, tweak it.

If your BBB rating is not good, that’s ok — for now. You can work to improve it, it may take time but you can get that A! Just take it one step at a time. Whatever you put your attention and focus on in your business, you can grow and make better. Put your attention on this and focus on getting that A! It will be worth it.

BBB accreditation for moving companies? YES

Watch the video above for the full episode.

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Full Transcript [The following is the full transcript of this episode.]

Do you know what your BBB score is? Your Better Business Bureau rating? Do you even care what it is? Have you checked it? Is it something that you pay attention to? If not, I’m here to tell you that the BBB is still very, very relevant and very important to your moving company. A lot of companies are under the impression that all that matters is Yelp, Google reviews, Facebook reviews, and that nobody really goes to BBB anymore. And listen, it might not be the only thing like it was at one point, where the only thing that mattered was your BBB rating. There’s other things now online for reviews and getting a rating and getting five stars, four stars, whatever the case may be, but the BBB is still very, very relevant, very important, and something you need to pay attention to.

Let me give you the first reason why it’s so important. Takes up a lot of real estate on page one of Google. If you google the name of your company, there’s a very good chance that on the first page is the BBB listing for your company. If you’re a brand new company, maybe not, but if you’ve been in business for a little bit of time, there’s a very good chance that on page one is your BBB rating. So as a customer, if they google the name of your company to check you out, you don’t think they’re gonna stop on that BBB page? You don’t think they’re gonna take a look at it? Your BBB rating just adds credibility. And the reason I’m saying this, because I’ve spoken to a lot of companies, they’re like, “Oh, that doesn’t matter.” When I ask them, “What’s your BBB score?” They’ll go, “I don’t even know.” “How do you not know?” “Nobody goes to the BBB anymore. That’s old school.”

Listen, it might be old school, but it’s still very, very relevant. You need to pay attention to it. Do you know how many customers that you might be losing because they got a quote from you? Went to the BBB. Not that they went bbb.com to look for you, they just went to Google and searched the name of your company, saw the BBB site, said, “Oh, let me check this out.” Went there. Your score is not what it’s supposed to be, you could lose that job, they’ll never call you back. If you call them back they’ll say, “Oh, you know… ” they might not even give you the real reason.

It’s really important. I wanna give you five things you need to start doing to take the BBB seriously and let it help your company and your company’s reputation propel you to that next level. You still need it, it’s still important. First thing you need to do, is respond to complaints on time. I can’t believe how many companies have an F rating and all they have is maybe like one or two complaints, but they just didn’t respond to them or didn’t respond on time. It’s not that hard to keep an A rating. Even if you’re not accredited, if you’re responding to any complaints you get. Especially, if you don’t have many, but to see a company that has a poor… Even a C, it doesn’t even have to be an F. It doesn’t have an A, because they have one or two complaints that they just never replied to. It’s crazy, you lose a ton of grade scores by not replying to complaints. Make sure that you have. It’s set up to where they come in, you get them as an email and not just in the mail, and that you’re replying to them in the time that they give you to reply to them. It’s so big.

Second thing you need to do, is contact the BBB, call them, let them know, “Listen, I haven’t really been paying attention to my score. I wanna get up to an A+, what are some things I could do? What’s causing my score to be whatever it is at this moment, and tell me what the steps are?” It might not happen overnight, but they’re gonna lay out a path for you and the things that are causing the complaints. Yes, it’s on the site, but I would call them and I would let them know you’re very interested in increasing your grade. And what can you do, right? Start making this a conscious effort. You shouldn’t be getting a ton of them, but there’s no reason that if you get a few here and there, that you’re gonna allow it to ruin your company’s reputation because you’re not paying attention to it.

If you have an A+, if you have an A rating, if you have a B rating on your way to an A, become accredited, give them the money that they want for the accreditation. I hear companies say, “I’m not gonna pay them any money.” Listen, what would be better if you have an A rating, you have an A+ rating, wouldn’t you love to put that on the side of your truck with the big BBB logo? Wouldn’t you like to put that in your marketing? It’s not about becoming a part of their organization, it’s about… That builds a lot of trust with your customers. So, if you’re able to, get accredited.

Number four, add the logo to all of your marketing. I see companies that have this, that’s great. But I also see companies that have A+’s, that aren’t advertising it. Or they have the BBB logo down small somewhere. If you have an A+, use the logo that they give you. They have to approve the logos that they give you. But they’ll be able to give you one where you could show your A+. Put that at the top of your website. Put that on all your marketing material. Make sure it’s everywhere. This builds trust. If you wanna say, that it’s not relevant anymore, if you have a good score and you put it out there, it’s relevant. It’s gonna help build credibility not only with customers, but as you go out and you start pounding the pavement and you start networking with realtors and mortgage brokers and you’re able to present them with the fact that you’re accredited, it’s in all of your material, it’s gonna help a lot.

And number five, you have an A+, you have an A rating, you’re accredited, buy a sponsored listing with them. We could sit here and go, “Oh, the BBB is just trying to charge us.” Listen, marketing is an investment. The money you spend in marketing, so I put money in and I get money out. And you know what, if people are going to the BBB site to look at you, or to look at other moving companies, and you could be there with a sponsored ad that says, “Hey, look at me. I have an A+ rating.” That customer obviously cares what the BBB has to say if they’re on that site.

If you’re able to have a listing there, get a phone call, get a lead, it’s more marketing dollars you could spend as an investment to bring in more money. Listen, the BBB is still there, it’s still something that you need to acknowledge. We’re just in a world where there’s additional things. Yelp, Google, Facebook, Moving reviews, these things, they didn’t come out and all of a sudden the BBB went away. No, it’s still there, it’s still relevant, pay attention to it. And you know what? And for some reason you’re at an F, you could make your way back.

Just start paying attention to it. Anything you put attention to, you could grow. So, whatever your grade, shoot for an A+, make that the goal of you and everyone in your company. If you don’t have an A+, put it up in the office, print it out, put it up and say, “Listen, this is our goal. We’re gonna get an A+.” It might take you a year. But you know what? That year will come. You’ll have that A+. You’ll be able to advertise it. Your conversion rate will go up. You’ll book more customers. Your marketing costs will go down, and it’s gonna help you profit in your business.

So, until I see you next week, go out there every single day, profit in your business, thrive in your life.

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Meet Louis

I’m Louis Massaro, author of 10 Rules of a Profitable Moving Company and the founder of Moving Mastery, a mentoring and education company dedicated to helping entrepreneurs in the moving industry increase profits by implementing proven strategies in marketing, sales, and operations.

I help entrepreneurs and business owners unlock their companies’ full potential so that they can not only make more money but live a more balanced, fun and fulfilling life.

When I opened my first company in 2000, I was a 19-year-old kid that started by placing an ad in the yellow pages and renting trucks. At first, my office was the parking lot of the truck rental yard where I dispatched the crews out of my car. I was struggling to operate on a shoestring budget and maxed out credit cards. It was not a professional set up. When drivers and helpers came for an interview they thought it was a joke.

Although it wasn’t an easy start, every obstacle and setback were opportunities to learn. It took me a few years of making a ton of mistakes and constantly saying to myself “there’s got to be a better way to do this” before I really developed a solid process and system.

I finally mastered a system for running a very profitable moving & storage company, while also discovering how to have balance in my life and not work crazy hours. I took that system and started opening up several offices in cities throughout the US where we sold over $20 Million per year in moves.